a year of laughter, lessons, and life experiences through the simple ABCs

Tag Archives: cake

Let’s be honest, a lot of times I use this blog to vent about things. My frustrations at Initech, problems with friends, lack of a boyfriend. You, my faithful readers, bless your heart, have stuck with me through thick and thin, why I’ll never understand. But my blog averages 10 hits a day, which means someone, somewhere, finds these ramblings entertaining.

For once, though, I’m not here to ramble and complain about my life…I know, happy dance! For once, I am here to celebrate this week, and name it the Best Week Ever!!!*

I think it’s the best week ever because it was so unexpected. Vacation weeks, and birthday weeks, they’re amazing weeks, but you know they’re coming, so the excitement level is already ratcheted to HIGH ALERT before the week even kicks off. No, I think the best weeks are the weeks where you don’t expect anything to happen, and then a million things do.

To start my week off, I won a $100 Ikea gift card in a monthly sweepstakes. For those of you who have never met me, or know very little about me, Ikea is my mecca. I love that store maybe more than life itself. All of my bedroom, living room, dinning room, and kitchen ware have been purchased at that store. I love the style, the functionality, and the additional storage space all of their pieces provide. I love (ok, hate) the wordless instructions that accompany every purchase, and the swearing, broken nails, sweat, and exhaustion that accompanies each box. I love that they sell Swedish meatballs, that they have ice cream for $1, and you can have free coffee any time you want with your Ikea family card. If I could get married in Ikea, I would (and, let’s be honest, I will probably try). Simply put, I. Love. Ikea.

And they offered me a $100 gift card. Me!! ME!!!! I’ve already spent it, fyi, at least in my head. I know exactly what I’m getting, to replace my old Ikea furniture. If anyone wants a fu-chair let me know, a very reasonable asking price has been sent (Fu-chair…?? Don’t worry, most people don’t know. It’s a chair that unfolds into a single bed. Great for dorms. I’ve had ppl sleep on it all with surprisingly positive reviews. It’s an amazing investment).

So that was the first good thing that happened to me. The next was an unexpected surprise that was thoughtful all the same. As many of you know, I’m taking decorating classes right now, trying to become a better pastry decorator. I have to practice, though, which means finding reasons to bake people cakes. I have a co-worker who has a daughter with a birthday party this weekend. I made her a deal–I’ll bake her cake for free, no strings attached. You’d have to be an idiot to not accept, and she’s not an idiot, so she said yes. One princess cake coming up! Today, though, she came in with a Visa gift card for me, since I offered to make the cake for her daughter. It’s nice to know that there is still some unexpected kindness in the human race. I was completely fine with making this cake for free, since I need the practice it will provide, and out of no where I’m rewarded with a wonderful new gift card. That’s two in 24 hours. I am striking it big this week!

My final surprise this week came from Macy’s. Who doesn’t love that store?? Apparently they’re having a huge sale this weekend, and guess what they’ve marked down to their lowest prices of the year?? Kitchen Aide mixers. Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah!! Again, I love baking, but I’ve never been able to afford a Kitchen Aide. The Rolls Royce of mixers. I’ve been saving, though, and have several bazillion gift cards lying around my house (sense a theme here??). So this weekend, I’m taking myself down to McKnight road and buying myself a Kitchen Aide mixer!

I love weeks like this. Even a stressful day at Initech can’t bring me down! I have new gift cards to shop with, a cake baking in the oven that’s Barbie pink, a new mixer on the way, and Friday off. Life’s looking up for ole Lis here!!

I hope you’re having as fabulous of a week as I am! For real. And if not, let’s hang out, and I’ll brighten your mood.

Ah, another glorious Initech weekend. Things have been much better there of recent, and I’m actually, gasp, not dreading returning tomorrow. It probably doesn’t hurt that I found out two weeks ago I have 62 hours of vacation time to use by the end of the year. I’m going crazy with my vacation days! 🙂

Next week might be E is for Exercise, because I need to work off all of the calories I ate this weekend. I can’t complain, though, sometimes indulging yourself in ridiculous fun weekends like this one is what life is all about.

So junk food…it is my kryptonite. If I could eat nothing but junk food, and be happy and healthy, I would. But, then again, who wouldn’t. This weekend, I decided to indulge in all of my favorites, all of those things you usually say to yourself, “That sounds delicious, but I know I shouldn’t have it,” before sticking to your celery and beet salad. Not this weekend. This weekend I thought “That sounds delicious, and I ate it!! Mwahahaha.

First up, Friday night, I had a Sweet 16 party. My first Sweet 16 party in a decade. Man, that made me feel super old. It’s been 10 years since I had my own Sweet 16. Where has life gone? It was a fun party, though. There was junk food EVERYWHERE!!!! Pizza, chips, cheese balls, cake, cupcakes, soda, it was a fat kid’s paradise! Which I guess makes me a fat kid, because it was delicious!!!

One question to ponder, though, as you relax on your Sunday off…when hosting a party, why does everyone only buy ONE kind of Doritos? I’d say 75% of the time they buy the Nacho Cheese Doritos, and forget about the Cool Ranch. I LOVE COOL RANCH DORITOS!!!!! Maybe people don’t understand how deep my love really is, but I swear, next party I host, there will be two types of Doritos there for guests to chose from. I do not discriminate!!

On Saturday, I had the ultimate sugar overload in the morning, because I am currently taking cake decorating classes. Yes, me, owner of a small bakery, does not know how to properly decorate a cake. It’s OK, though, I’m learning. The class is super early on Saturday mornings, though, so I usually roll out of bed, shower, and hit some sort of breakfast stand on my way to the class. Usually Panera, or Starbucks, something that tries to give me healthier options. Not yesterday, though. I turned up my radio, rolled down the window, and cruised into McDonalds. I still knew my order from memory: A number 2, orange juice, extra ketchup. Gosh, how long has it been since I had McDonalds breakfast? I wish I could tell you it’s disgusting, full of fat and salt and cholesterol, and I never want to eat another bite of it. But McDonalds breakfast may be the best high-calorie, fatty, fried, awful for your body breakfast out there. It’s so delicious. I wish I could eat it every day!!

After that, it was two hours in cake decorating class, where I made a chocolate raspberry cake with vanilla icing, and then home to enjoy my afternoon. Except, wait for it, my junk food love did not end there!! I went over to a friends house for dinner, where we had salad. I know, salad on my junk food weekend. Don’t worry, though, for dessert I had homemade apple pie. Then, after a quick run down the PA Turnpike, I met my brother for James Bond in IMAX. That means….movie theater popcorn!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!! That’s a treat I never indulge in. Never ever. This weekend, though, there are no limits.

Today is detox day. Don’t laugh, I’m being serious. After all of the sugar, starch, salt, fat, and calories I’ve ingested in the past 36 hours, today is all about getting it out of my system. Lots of water, lots of body-friendly food, lots of enjoying the fact that healthy foods can be wonderful too!! I’m thinking wheat germ and bananas for lunch…Yummy!!! (and no, that’s not a sarcastic yummy, I actually love those two foods together! If you have any good detox ideas or suggestions, though let me know.

All in all, a very good weekend. I don’t think I’d want to make this a weekly adventure, but once in awhile it’s nice to eat that cupcake you know you shouldn’t eat, or bite into a delicious Sausage Egg McMuffin and not feel guilty about it.

Well, for those of you new to this blog, I like to bake 🙂 That may be the understatement of a lifetime. I’m trying to open my own bakery, and even have a blog detailing all the gory and less-than-glorious details about it.

So I’ve debated when I was going to choose this alphabet letter for one of my alphabet weekends, because, if I’m honest with you, I make baked goods, and all those delicious foods we’re not allowed to eat probably every weekend. There needed to be a special reason for me to bust this letter out.

I think next weekend I’ve finally found that reason!! One of my favorite people in the entire world, Taylor, is having her Sweet 16 party next weekend (I met Taylor when she was, um, 11, and like 6 ft tall 🙂 I feel very old. And very short.) and I’m baking a bazillion and twenty cupcakes for her. Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean.

I’m also taking a baking decorating class this coming weekend, where I will learn how to tort a cake, then put all sorts of designs on it. Like leaves and flowers and all that “artsy” stuff people like. Roll out the fondit, and let’s get our hands dirty!!

On top of that, Taylor’s birthday is a hoe-down themed party, which means lots of crazy awful junk food that is consumed deep in the heart of Texas. So I felt it was only fitting that next weekend I celebrate J is for Junk Food Junkie.

Here’s the worst kept secret about my life: I love junk food. I wish I had the metabolism of a 6 year old ADHD boy, but I don’t :-(. I have the metabolism of maybe a 65 year old invalid. Which means I look at food and it attaches itself to my ass. I’ve learned I can’t fight it, and have accepted the fact that I will always have curves, and hits, and some junk in the trunk, but I do usually try to limit how much junk food I eat. Fast food is a treat (or an “I’m PMS-ing” indulgence), and even though I bake a ton of stuff, I rarely do more than taste test. It’s all about quantity.

Not this weekend, though. The gloves are coming off!! We are going to bake, and eat, and party, and have an amazing good time! I am not going to guilt myself into thinking “I shouldn’t be eating this”, and ruining my weekend. I am going to bake until I can’t bake anymore!! And, the best news of them all, I am going to have the time of my life doing it!!

So if you’re in the area, and would like to bake, eat, or go crazy with me, let me know. I’ll probably hit up some sort of greasy diner too, just to make sure I cover all my bases. I mean, what more could you want from a weekend than cupcakes, icing, ice cream, and chili cheese fries?

I’ll be back next weekend to report on my activities, barring, of course, that Initech does not force me to work all weekend!! Hope I’m not too large! 😉

I need help setting up an LLC. If you’re reading my blog, enjoy my companionship (aka: I don’t royally piss you off), you’re licensed to practice law in the state of PA (I know most of you bowed out at that requirement), and don’t mind being paid in pastries (and there go the rest of you), I need your help!

No for real. I’m trying to start up an LLC. I’m looking for anyone with legal help who can offer it to me. I have very little to offer in terms of pay, but I know we could work something out. A payment plan, a prepaid legal plan, or even back end payments. This is a brave new world for me, though, and I’m looking for help.

Also, for real, I’ll pay in cookies, cupcakes, and cakes for the rest of your life. 😉 Something to think about!! No worries about children’s birthday cakes EVER!!! What a weight off your shoulders!

So if you meet all the requirements, let’s talk!! I’m sure we can work out a wonderful business deal that helps both of us!